20 Best Drinks To Mix With Jägermeister, Ranked

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Jägermeister was the brainchild of a young German man, Curt Mast, for whom both deer hunting and distilling spirits held great fascination. In the early 1930s, Mast began combining various botanicals to come up with what he hoped would be a marketable after-dinner digestif that he could also enjoy with his hunting buddies. By 1934, Mast had "narrowed" it down to a mixture of 56 herbs, spices, peels, roots, and barks, which he steeped in a mixture of alcohol and water before filtering into oak barrels for aging and then filtering once again and adding sugar, caramel coloring, and still more alcohol.

Calling it "Jägermeister," which is German for "master hunter," Mast successfully brought his creation to the German beverage market in its sturdy and now highly iconic square-edged green glass bottles. Featuring assertive notes of star anise, licorice root, cloves, and bitter orange, among others, Jägermeister impressed as a digestion-enhancing post-meal quaff. Nevertheless, when it reached the U.S. in the early '80s, it was embraced primarily by college kids who were drawn to how well it went down as an affordable icy cold shot.

But what is Jägermeister best mixed with? With its wide array of botanicals just begging to be drawn out by just the right mixer, it seems this drink was always destined to attract the attention of mixologists. And, believe us, they have plenty of opinions about what complements Jägermeister. With that in mind, here are the 20 best drinks to mix with this dark and mysterious spirit.

Red Bull is one of the most well-known and popular drinks you can mix with Jägermeister. It's also one of the best. In fact, from purely a taste perspective, the energy drink's sweet, fruity, fizziness pairs remarkably well with Jägermeister's more-bitter-than-sweet black-licorice-reminiscent dark and potent syrup. Further, many people put these two together, not just because they set one another off so well in terms of flavor, but also because they like how Red Bull's burst of caffeine counteracts the depressant effect of the relatively high alcohol content (35% ABV) in Jägermeister.

In the interest of full disclosure, however, we should also point out that the aforementioned study found that combining Red Bull with any alcohol ends up increasing the total amount of alcohol consumed (not by volume, but by unit of alcohol). That makes sense since the stimulating effects of Red Bull can't actually eliminate alcohol from the blood. In other words, if you're invested in keeping track of how many drinks you've had, as opposed to how alert you may or may not feel, then you're probably best moving along to one of these other drinks that go at least equally as well with Jägermeister as Red Bull does.

Jägermeister's initial success in the U.S. all came down to the spirit being embraced as a sociable drink. And while frat parties and pub-crawls are not necessarily what Jägermeister's inventor, Curt Mast, may have envisioned when he pictured his creation making its way around the globe, the fact is that the social aspect of the quaff was important to Mast. In fact, having just the right drink to toast with his buddies during a deer hunting expedition was at least half the battle as far as Mast was concerned when he set out to develop his digestif.

But for those looking to raise that celebration up a notch, why not give Jäger a sudsy companion? The Deer & Beer consists of a shot of Jägermeister paired with 11 ounces of beer (ideally something on the lighter side like an IPA or lager). When it comes down it, beer is the perfect pal for Jägermeister, and by that we mean one that may or may not have questionable taste (depending on your preferences and your beer selection), and doesn't necessarily offer you the best time of your life, but is, nevertheless, very available, highly reliable, and very into chilling.

Root beer and Jäger might not be something you've tried before, but the two make a lot of sense as a pairing. Despite being a sweet soda, root beer tastes pretty medicinal and has notes of anise and earthy herbs — just like Jägermeister does. In fact, one could argue that root beer is the Jägermeister of sodas. These drinks are both dark, intense, and herbaceous — a match made in heaven.

This drink pairing, though lesser known, actually already exists, and it's called a Drunk German. You can prepare it like any liquor-and-soda mixed drink by adding a shot or two of Jägermeister into a tall, ice-filled glass and topping it off with root beer. This libation is super drinkable and tastes like an adult version of root beer. The Jägermeister mellows out the sweetness, and the taste of the liqueur is actually pretty well disguised — unless you pour a generous serving.

Kids from the 1970s might remember Laverne DiFazio's love of milk and Pepsi on the sitcom "Laverne & Shirley" (although any cola would do; the point was always supposed to be ... wait, milk?!). As it turns out, milk and cola isn't half bad. In fact, it tastes a bit like a Coke float, just not as sweet. But if you're finding yourself feeling a bit skeptical about the prospect of mixing plain dairy with Jägermeister, we feel you. It's only natural, after all. Milk's taste is pretty limited — there are subtle hints of sweet and sour, but the beverage is generally bland.

Jägermeister, on the other hand, tastes boldly, no, audaciously of bitter, sweet, and acid. Milk coolly coats the throat and the stomach, whereas Jägermeister feels like it might burn its own hole. Milk is what kids eat with cookies. Jägermeister is just so beyond that life stage. But how are these actually good reasons to forsake what turns out to be a logical, smooth, and unexpectedly comforting combination?

That being said, we wouldn't dream of suggesting you should venture into the milk and Jäger realm without first trying it out as a Jahlua Bomb, which is basically chocolate milk and Jäger (1 ounce of Jäger to 4 ounces of milk flavored with a spoonful of drinking chocolate).

To be fair, virtually all fruit juices that we can think of can be said to share a fairly amicable relationship to Jägermeister. But if it's a ranking you're looking for, it's a ranking you shall receive, and the first fruit juice that we recommend to mix with Jägermeister (you'll find a couple of even better suggestions below) is good ole orange — the fresher the better.

The combination of Jägermeister with orange juice makes perfect sense. The orange peel that is among Jägermeister's 56 botanical ingredients gets a bright, sweet, and tangy boost from actual orange juice. If you didn't realize before that mixing orange juice with Jäger might make you forget all about boring old, been there, done that vodka screwdrivers, well, now you do.

Initially, this was going to be a tie between apple cider and apple juice. Like we said above, fruit juices go extraordinarily well with Jägermeister, which makes sense when you consider that a fair number of Jägermeister's 56 ingredients include the essential oils from a number of fruits, their skin, their peel, and their plant bark. Plus, when you consider that so many fruit juice blends contain apple juice as one of their ingredients, it just seems like a logical accompaniment to Jäger's secret fruit flavors in general.

Mixing apple juice with Jägermeister sweetens and lightens the darkly bittersweet spirit considerably. However, mixing apple cider with Jägermeister does the same thing while also imparting more body and also lending nuance and depth (understanding precisely why requires an understanding of the real difference between apple cider and apple juice). Making a Darth Jäger, as this combo is sometimes called, typically involves mixing 1.5 ounces of Jäger with 3 to 4 ounces of apple cider.

If you're not a gin and tonic person, you may have never considered drinking tonic water with anything else. This is a shame, as tonic water is an underrated chaser with so much to offer, and it's surprisingly good with Jägermeister too. Tonic water is beloved for its bitterness and underlying sweetness, which complements the bitterness in Jägermeister beautifully and makes for a really refreshing drink. It's not too sweet and has a nice fragrance.

The subtle citrus notes in both tonic water and Jägermeister play really well together. Mix in some blue or pink tonic water for a beautiful looking drink, and top it with some juniper berries as you might do with craft gin. You'd be surprised how complex and sophisticated your drink becomes.

The Cuba Libre, a cocktail consisting of rum, cola, and a squeeze of lime, is a card-carrying member of the 20 cocktails you should be drinking if you like rum. But as fresh, fizzy, and satisfying as the classic combo might be, it no longer makes quite the statement it made back when it was first introduced at the turn of the 20th century, soon after the Cuban war for independence. ("Cuba Libre" translates to "Free Cuba.") For a more contemporary cola and spirit pairing, we would like to introduce the Cuba Libre (and, of course, its American peer, the Jack and Coke) to their German cousin, the more adventurous Jäg and Coke.

A Jäg and Coke typically starts with 2 ounces of Jägermeister, after which the glass is filling with ice and Coca-Cola. The sweetness of the cola plays well off the bittersweet hint of licorice of the Jäger. Garnish with lime, or maybe not, since limes are not native to Jägermeister's native Germany, as they are to Cuba and the American South.

Irish coffee, which, at its essence, is coffee spiked with Irish whiskey, has inspired people all over the world to pour a shot of their locally produced booze into a glass and fill the rest up with coffee (and maybe a dollop of whipped cream, but as you can probably guess, we don't regard the whipped cream as nearly as essential as the coffee and the booze). And that now includes people in Germany who have already realized how very right it is to spike coffee with Jägermeister.

It's such a perfect combination that it might have been ranked slightly higher but for the fact that Jägermeister is meant, first and foremost, to be served very cold. The company states that the spirit should be chilled to around 0 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal flavor. Nonetheless, it also recommends mixing hot coffee with Jäger for a Jägermeister Kaffee.

"People have been drinking sambuca and coffee for quite some time," Louie Estrada, a restaurateur, chef, and bartender in New York, tells Thrillist, so why not Jägermeister? Not for nothing, Jägermeister actually developed its own pre-bottled cocktail of cold brew coffee plus Jägermeister!

Our unofficial rule of thumb vis a vis coffee versus tea is that both get a thumbs up, and, further, it's a safe bet that whatever you think tastes good in your coffee is also going to taste good to you in tea. Just think: milk, sugar, and sweet syrups with subtle flavors like vanilla and mint, for example.

And then there is, of course, Jägermeister. A Jäger and tea cocktail, known as Hunter's Tea, consists, essentially, of equal parts steeped and sweetened black tea and Jägermeister, garnished with a twist of orange.

A Jäger Bomb is one of the most popular ways that people drink the liqueur on a fun night out. But if you're not a Red Bull fan, you might feel like you're missing out. Luckily, you can swap out Red Bull for Gatorade and have a Jägerade instead. The best part is that you will be getting your electrolytes while indulging in a boozy beverage.

What's even better about using Gatorade is that you can choose your own flavor pairing. Most Gatorade flavors will pair pretty well depending on your palate. Go for your favorite flavor, or experiment until you find the one you like the most with Jägermeister. An obvious choice of Gatorade is the purple grape flavor, as both the drink and Jäger have a medicinal flavor to them — but in a good way. Otherwise, lemon-lime, cherry, and even green apple would taste good too. A lot of ice will make this drink go from good to great.

Lemon, lemon peel, lemon zest, and lemon tree bark may or may not be among Jägermeister's secret 56 botanical ingredients. But we do know that tart citrus pairs extraordinarily well with the spirit, bringing out some of the juiciest, fruitiest, zestiest notes in the dark and bittersweet elixir. To mix up one of the loveliest lemonade and Jägers you'll ever taste, simply drizzle a scant ounce of Jäger over a tall glass of lemonade. Then mix, or not, depending on how you feel about the aesthetics of a deconstructed drink.

And for an extra-added bonus, since coffee also goes wonderfully well with Jäger, you can try a Cold Brew Lemonade, which combines Jägermeister's own bottled Jäger-spiked cold brew coffee with lemonade. For those making lemonade from scratch (which we recommend), take one part lemon juice sweetened with simple syrup, and mix that with three parts water.

Torn as we were between apple juice and apple cider (as discussed above), we were even more divided when it came time to choose between ginger ale and ginger beer to include on this ranking. On the one hand, ginger beer plus a squeeze of lime makes for a brilliant German take on the Moscow mule. However, sometimes, a mule is just a little labor intensive, especially when we'd be just as happy with an icy cold glass of regular old ginger ale spiked with an ounce or so of Jäger.

It's not like there's such an enormous difference between ginger beer and ginger ale, or, more specifically, the way they pair with Jäger. Both leverage sweet, warm ginger flavor on Jäger's bittersweet assortment of herbs, roots, and other botanicals. But ginger beer is stronger and spicier and seems to cry out more for that lime's acidity as a foil. By contrast, ginger ale delivers a milder, more subtle ginger flavor but still stands up well to Jäger, even if you don't happen to have any fresh limes lying around your kitchen. Plus, ginger ale is also a bit more sparkly (i.e. carbonated). But what ultimately swayed us in our ranking is ginger ale's ready availability at just about any grocery store.

Some people are strictly about the clear spirits — vodka, gin, tequila blanco, for example. But if you've gotten this far in our ranking of the best drinks to mix with Jägermeister, we think it's a safe bet to assume you're someone who's a little more open to the more vibrantly hued spirits including deep, molasses-hued Jägermeister. As discussed above, its is well-suited for mixing with all manner of fruit juices, including apple, orange, and lemon. But we particularly appreciate the dark, tart zing — both visually and as a matter of taste — that cranberry juice delivers.

We'll even admit that we've tried making ourselves a cocktail of grape juice and Jäger, and though it's certainly a workable pairing, it lacks the essential tartness that cranberry brings to the table. And then there is the color. Even at its deepest purple, grape juice just isn't quite a perfect as the luxe red of cranberry.

This drink might not be super refined, but for people who love a sweet libation, Fanta orange soda is an excellent choice to mix with Jägermeister. If you've ever tried mixing Coke and Fanta together as a kid, then you won't be as astonished by this pairing, as it has a similar essence. The bright sweetness of Fanta totally relieves Jägermeister's bitterness and makes the drink really easy to sip. Plus, if it's too sweet for you, you can always add more Jägermeister.

Fanta is not just a fun way to dilute the taste of Jägermeister. In fact, it pulls out and emphasizes the citrus peel flavors of Jägermeister in a genius way. You're left with the nostalgic taste of Fanta that you know and love, but it's more complex, full-bodied, and rife with earthy undertones.

This drink will transport you to a tropical beach and make you feel like it's summer, no matter what season it is. Passion fruit juice certainly doesn't seem like it would work well with Jägermeister, but it really does. These two drinks are really intense and flavorful on their own, but when mixed together, they tame each other and become a tangy delight.

If you're not a fan of Jägermeister, then this combo may be perfect for you. You'll taste a lot more fruitiness than herbs, and it's delightfully sweet and sour. A squeeze of lime juice, while optional, can take this drink to new aromatic heights. Use any passion fruit juice you like, but for more pizazz, get whole passion fruit and scoop out some of the seedy flesh to top your drink. It will offer a burst of freshness and sunshine and make your drink feel like a fancy cocktail.

Tart cherry juice (also known as sour cherry juice) isn't new by any means, but it has been making some buzz lately for its sleep-promoting qualities. This has propelled many people to start using it, like by mixing it with different drinks for the perfect after-dinner sipper or nightcap. This is where Jägermeister comes in. Jägermeister is also great to have after a meal as it aids in digestion, so mixing some in with some tart cherry juice is a no-brainer.

Health benefits aside, the flavors are great together, and it's a delicious drink. The deep cherry notes are an easy fit for Jägermeister's earthy, herbaceous notes, and the hit of sourness from the tart cherry juice lightens the intensity of the liqueur. So, you can sip this smooth beverage and feel good about doing so.

Whether you call it club soda, soda water, or seltzer, effervescent water lends a fizzy ebullience to Jägermeister's dark, syrupy vibe while ever-so-slightly cutting its assertive licorice bite. That, in turn, brings out many of the subtle nuances of the spirit.

Bubbly water is truly a wonderful base for Jägermeister, provided you enjoy the taste of the digestif. But if you've never tasted Jägermeister, mixing it with club soda and ice is a great way to explore all that it has to offer. Clean and fresh, and ideally icy cold, club soda quietly asserts itself while also allowing you to experience Jägermeister's deeply nuanced flavors with almost no interference. But if you insist on a sweeter drink (and there's nothing wrong with that), try a drizzle of raspberry syrup. To make a Jäger Raspberry, pour 1.5 ounces of Jägermeister into a tall glass with ice, then fill with soda water and top with raspberry syrup a generous squeeze of lemon, and garnish with a lemon wedge.

Ribena may not be as popular in the U.S., but this iconic British drink is a purple soda that should be more well-known. It's made from blackcurrants and can be sold as a soda or concentrated cordial. It's pleasantly sweet but not overbearing, and the blackcurrant really stands out. This potent berry flavor goes amazing with Jägermeister, as the liqueur brings out its earthy and berry-forward flavors.

You can mix your Jäger with the Ribena soda, or mix some Ribena syrup in a glass with Jägermeister and water. If you prefer a fizzy drink, use the cordial along with sparkling water to get the same effect. Either way, it will have a beautiful purple hue that will make both your eyes and taste buds happy. If you live outside the U.K., fear not: You can buy Ribena online.

If you like the idea of an orange-flavored drink mixed in with your Jägermeister, but Fanta seems a bit too sweet or childish for you, you should try San Pellegrino's blood orange (or aranciata rossa) soda. This thirst-quenching hit also comes in a zero-sugar option and is an excellent substitute for Fanta. It's less sweet and more bitter, which suits the flavor of Jägermeister really well.

What makes this drink really special is the complex citrus aroma of blood oranges. Its fragrance is almost floral. These flavors are even more robust when they come together with the botanicals in the Jägermeister. It's the elevated Jägermeister mixed drink you'll revisit time and time again.